The autumn wind swept the fallen leaves in front of the door. The waiter leaning against the door yawned, turned around and went in with his sleeves rolled up.
"Boss, business has been getting worse these past two days. There's no one to be seen on the street."
The shopkeeper who was fiddling with the abacus at the counter raised his eyes from the account book and curled his mustache on his upper lip.
"In a disaster year, many strange things happen..."
After saying that, he moved his mouth towards the waiter and motioned him to go to the room on the second floor.
"Go and ask the scholars and Taoist priests inside to come out and have something to eat. Try to arrange something expensive."
"It's still the shopkeeper who will find a way."
The waiter threw up a rag, ran up to the second floor, and knocked on the door: "Sir, it's almost noon, why don't you come down to eat with the Taoist priest? Today we have a few more fresh dishes in the restaurant, such as tender lamb legs and salt-roasted fat goose. They are so fat and delicious..."
After talking for a long time, there was no response.
The waiter frowned, reached out and pushed the door, and with a creak, the door opened inward.
The room was completely empty, without a single person in sight. The bookshelf in the corner was gone. The bedding was neatly folded, and sixty cents for the room was placed on the round table.
"Gone?"
The guy looked around, secretly put a few coins into his sleeves, and ran downstairs with the pile of copper coins.
"Boss, they have checked out. Here, this is the room fee."
Copper coins clattered onto the counter. The shop assistant took a look, hummed a little tune, and walked away shaking his head. After a moment, he heard the shopkeeper utter a light "eh" behind him.
"This scholar is good at accounting, and every penny is worth it."
The guy who was walking away quickly felt the bag in his sleeve, but it was flat and empty.
…
At this time, outside the city, the sky was yellow and withered in autumn. Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey, walked through the west of the city, and went around to the northwest. Toad was lying on the bookshelf with his legs crossed, listening to the opera on the scroll painted on the wall next to him and humming along.
Sun Yingxian jumped around like a wild dog that had been let go of its leash. He climbed up a nearby tree and found a bird's nest. He caught a snake from it, quickly nailed it to death, deftly skinned it, and stuffed it into a leather bag.
"I'll make you a delicious meal later!!"
Smelling the blood, Toad raised his upper body and looked out of the compartment: "Another frog?"
"It's already autumn, where are the frogs?" The Taoist opened the leather bag a little, revealing the snake's head. "At this time, of course, we need to eat this kind of food. It's very nourishing."
The Toad Taoist nodded: "Go see if there are any more birds. Make a dragon and phoenix soup. Remember to add green onions and ginger to reduce the smell!"
"Okay, you'll see what happens then."
The Taoist pulled up the leather bag and ran away excitedly. Then, he paused and tilted his head: "Why do I listen to the old toad so much?"
later.
Sometimes gentle, sometimes sad opera music came from the bookshelf. Lu Liangsheng knew that Hong Lian sang it deliberately to ease his mood.
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he had something on his mind, but since Lu Liangsheng didn't say anything, Toad and Hong Lian didn't ask any questions. They tried not to disturb him while helping the scholar to ease his mood.
After walking for a while, the song "Visiting Relatives at Hongmen" stopped, and Hong Lian asked faintly in the painting:
"Sir, does it sound good? Do you want to continue?"
Lu Liangsheng walked in front, without looking back, looking at the dim autumn day in front of him, and said with a smile: "No, singing in broad daylight is not good for you."
At this time, Taoist Toad interrupted.
"Sing, I'm in high spirits. When I was practicing, I never experienced the wonders of the human world. Now when I think back, I feel that I suffered a great loss."
These words made both the scholar and the female ghost laugh. Lu Liangsheng put aside his thoughts for the moment, looked back at the bookshelf with a smile, and touched the donkey's head with his hand.
Amid the old donkey's groaning, he said jokingly:
"By the way, Master, what were you like at your peak?"
"Hehe... That's something you can't even imagine."
The Toad became excited. He sat up with his feet hanging outside the compartment, and looking at the roadside and fields with his flippers in his arms, he nodded and squinted his eyes.
"Back then, I was so majestic and powerful. Mountains and rivers trembled under my feet. The elites of several major sects came out to surround me. There were so many people and magic weapons that the sun was blocked..."
As the word "日" fell, Sun Yingxian's voice suddenly came from the front.
"There's someone lying here!!"
The old donkey instinctively stopped and pushed with inertia, knocking the toad, who was holding his flippers and squinting his eyes, directly out. The flippers were clinging to the edge of the compartment and almost fell down.
"Fortunately, I was prepared."
"Master, please wait a moment. I will go and take a look."
At this moment, Lu Liangsheng finished his words, loosened the reins, and ran quickly towards the Taoist priest. The old donkey ran happily to the roadside without any restraint. The bookshelf shook violently, and the hanging short figure flew out, fell to the ground with a snap, and twitched slightly.
The other side.
When Lu Liangsheng walked to the Taoist priest's side, Sun Yingxian was squatting on the ground with a branch in her hand, reaching forward and poking at a fallen figure.
"This guy seems to be a fellow from the inn where we stayed."
“It’s really him.”
Lu Liangsheng sniffed and found the man's breathing was even. He turned his head to confirm that it was another waiter from Yuelai Inn. When he was taking a shower yesterday afternoon, the waiter who fetched water had complained about him suddenly quitting his job and saying, "The toad started talking..."
The Taoist poked him with a branch, a little puzzled: "This guy doesn't seem to be sick, why is he sleeping here?"
"Just send him back to the inn."
Naturally, the scholar was worried about leaving the person in the wilderness. Although it was an official road on the outskirts of the city, it was not necessarily safe. Just as he and the Taoist were about to lift him up, the moment they touched him, the sleeping figure suddenly sat up.
"Don't touch me, don't touch me. If you want to leave, leave quickly. I won't go back."
The man did not look sick at all. He was nimble and ran away quickly. He kept some distance between himself and shouted at Lu Liangsheng and the Taoist priest.
"You two should leave now. Forget about not taking me with you. I'll just wait for the next group of people. Lu... Lu... Lu... Why are you guys here?!"
He cried out "ouch", then turned and ran.
The Taoist took a step forward, stretched out his hand, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, his eyes wide open.
"You are playing tricks on me, you want to run away after teasing me?"
Lu Liangsheng's originally depressed mood was interrupted by this incident, which made him feel much more relaxed. He was a little curious about why the waiter was pretending to be sick and lying on the ground.
"You are a waiter from Yuelai Inn. I recognize you. Did you suddenly run away because you heard the toad next to me talking?"
After the truth was revealed, the guy looked at the scholar fearfully, then looked towards the road, where he saw a black shadow coiled on the ground slowly standing up.
His whole body was shaking even more violently, and he cautiously asked the scholar in front of him.
"… The toad has already spoken, so why shouldn't I run? You two, I am skinny and have only a few pounds of flesh, can you please let me go… please?"
Ordinary people will hardly encounter such a thing in their lifetime, so it is normal to be so scared when they suddenly encounter it.
"You mean the toad?"
Lu Liangsheng followed his gaze and looked at the road. The master seemed to be stretching his muscles in the autumn sun and smiled, "Don't be afraid, he won't hurt you. This Taoist priest and I are also human beings."
Naturally, he would not tell an outsider about his relationship with the Toad, so he simply explained it in a few words, which made him feel relieved.
Later, they also learned that the shop assistant's name was Wang Tianshi. When they asked him why he was pretending to be sick, he felt a little uneasy in front of the two of them, rubbing the cold sweat on his palms, and said carefully:
"If I pretend to be sick, I might meet a kind person and be taken along on the journey. I might even be given food and drink, and I might even be able to find a job... You two, I really haven't done anything bad, please let me go... There's a ghost in the village, so I came out to find another way to make a living..."
Back on the road, some merchants leaving the city passed by the three of them and cast curious glances at them.
Wearing a white scholar's robe fluttering in the wind, Lu Liangsheng picked up a toad from the ground and put it on the donkey's head, then turned his head to look at Wang Tianshi who was feeling uneasy.
"Haunted?"
When the Taoist heard this, he also became interested: "Male ghost or female ghost? I am a Taoist priest, catching ghosts is my specialty."
"Coco..."
Without waiting for the other party to reply, he hooked Wang Tianshi's shoulder and walked forward.
"Come on, don't say anything more, I don't charge any fees, tell me where your village is."
"Leaving here, it's usually more than a hundred miles northwest..."
The shop assistant raised his finger in a direction and said with tears in his eyes:
"But...but I don't want to go back..."
At the back, Lu Liangsheng looked at the two people in front, smiled, led the old donkey over, and shouted, "Master, sit tight."
It would have been better if he hadn't said it. Upon hearing this, Toad Taoist's face darkened and he stretched out his flippers.
"Find me a rope, I want to tie it around my waist."
This made Hong Lian in the scroll on the bookshelf unable to hold back and she laughed out loud.